We were on the road at 6:30 this morning heading north for the Chereponi area; namely the village of Kaplani. Poor Timothy was squeezed in the back seat with 6 metal boxes and 6 bags of knitted hats. It took us 2.5 hours to get to our destination. As usual on this trip we picked up some ladies walking on the way from the Ando congregation heading for Kaplani.
There were six congregations that met at the school block where we held services. These congregations consist of small groups of approximately 10 adults each and a few children. They are of a different tribe and speak the Anufo language. Another difference is these adults are much older (55+) than most of the Konkomba congregations we work with. The total number of people present today was 76.
Because Timothy doesn’t speak the language very well my interpreter was Nana Bekum, a long time evangelist that works with these congregations. Before I started teaching the lesson I presented the gifts that we had brought. The six gifts were identical and consisted of: a metal document box with padlock, bread, juice, pad & pen, metal communion cup holder, bible story flip charts, and a bag of knitted hats. I then proceeded to explain the importance of adhering to the government guidelines concerning the Covid 19.
I used my lesson time to take several of the flip charts the women at bethel had made to show the audience how to teach the lessons and the importance of teaching the young children to strengthen the congregations. I used one of the Adam and Eve charts to give the account of the demise of man in the garden. The folks got a kick out of the part when I was describing how Satan came to Eve as a serpent.
The question and answer period after services contained mostly requests for “things” rather than bible questions. The lives these people live make a church mouse look rich. We helped one of the congregations with money to purchase 10 bags of cement to plaster the inside and out of their building. We also gave the sponsoring congregation some money to help with the costs for the nice meal of rice and spaghetti that was provided to everyone.
We were so grateful the Lord had blessed us with a cloudy day. Nana said the temperature had been very hot lately and he was concerned the people would be so hot they would find it difficult to pay attention during worship.
The pickup was loaded with women when we left. Nana accompanied us to the chief’s house so we could greet him and give him some kola. After meeting the chief we dropped Nana off at his house. Five miles down the road we dropped the ladies from Ando off at their junction and we drove on towards Yendi.
After driving 2 hours we noticed storm clouds forming to the east and west of us. Four miles away from the compound it started to rain; then it poured. I drove as fast as I could to get to the house. We had stopped up the gutters so trash couldn’t flow into the cistern when it did rain. Time was wasting along with the rain water. By the time the rain stopped we had 5 inches of water in the cistern; we thank the Lord for that. This rain will help with the Yendi water crisis.
That wraps up another Sunday so I will close by saying we hope you had a good Lord’s Day and may God bless!
In His service,
Stephen and Kandie Taylor
